Kamniška Bistrica Valley

The Kamniška Bistrica Valley is a glacial valley where the river Kamniška Bistrica rises and carves its way through a succession of scenic gorges. The valley is surrounded on all sides by peaks of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, which makes it a perfect base for mountaineering. An aerial cable car connects the valley to the nearby Velika planina high mountain plateau. The valley's other tourist facilities include the Planinski dom alpine hut, the Kamp Alpe campsite, a number of small guest houses, and the Kraljev hrib complex with a guest house, a hostel, several picnic areas, and sauna and paintball facilities.

Attractions

The Kamniška Bistrica Valley boasts a number of natural attractions, the most popular being the main source of the river Kamniška Bistrica, the smaller Mali izvirek source, the Veliki Predaselj and Mali Predaselj gorges, and the Orglice waterfall. Also worth visiting are a memorial park commemorating the deceased Slovenian alpinists and a hunting lodge designed by the architect Jože Plečnik for King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. The slopes surrounding the valley are dotted with caves used as a hiding place first for 18th and 19th century road robbers and then for wartime deserters.

Koželj Trail

The Kamniška Bistrica Valley is crossed, almost along its entire length, by an easy forest trail referred to as the Koželj Trail. The trail departs from the village of Zgornje Stranje, next to the bridge crossing the river Kamniška Bistrica, and ends next to the Planinski dom alpine hut, where the Kamniška Bistrica has its source. It leads along a scenic route above the river, through the Mali Predaselj and Veliki Predaselj gorges, and takes three hours to complete.

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Mountain treks from the Kamniška Bistrica Valley

The Kamniška Bistrica Valley is the starting point for relatively short mountain tracks to the alpine huts on the Kamniško sedlo (1,864m) and Kokrsko sedlo (1,793m) mountain passes, from where harder treks lead to the top of Grintovec (2,558m), Brana (2,252m), Jezerska Kočna (2,540m), Planjava (2,394m), Ojstrica (2,350m), Skuta (2,532m), and several other peaks.